Devotionals

Spurgeon's Daily Devotionals - Evening Edition

March 16

"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous
sins." - Psalm 19:13

Such was the prayer of the "man after God's own
heart." Did holy David need to pray thus? How needful, then, must such a prayer
be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, "Keep me back, or I shall rush
headlong over the precipice of sin." Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered
horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it, and hold
it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it
were not for the checks which the Lord sets upon us both in providence and in
grace! The psalmist's prayer is directed against the worst form of sin-that
which is done with deliberation and wilfulness. Even the holiest need to be
"kept back" from the vilest transgressions. It is a solemn thing to find the
apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome sins. "Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." What! do
saints want warning against such sins as these? Yes, they do. The whitest robes,
unless their purity be preserved by divine grace, will be defiled by the
blackest spots. Experienced Christian, boast not in your experience; you will
trip yet if you look away from him who is able to keep you from falling. Ye
whose love is fervent, whose faith is constant, whose hopes are bright, say not,
"We shall never sin," but rather cry, "Lead us not into temptation." There is
enough tinder in the heart of the best of men to light a fire that shall burn to
the lowest hell, unless God shall quench the sparks as they fall. Who would have
dreamed that righteous Lot could be found drunken, and committing uncleanness?
Hazael said, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" and we are
very apt to use the same self-righteous question. May infinite wisdom cure us of
the madness of self-confidence.